One final test before the new campaign begins as Werder and our fans travel to take on West Ham. Despite going behind early, Ujah quickly got us back leveled from a long ranged shot attempt. Ulisses Garcia also continuing to make strides, showing notably with that dribble move cutting through the defense to create an assist on Ujah's second. Several good moments from Grillitsch as well with a couple opportunities from his set pieces. A trio of youngsters, Manneh, Frode, and Zander got a chance to feature in the closing frame. With Manneh showing some active attacking in the final third. Overall, a quality result winning this one 2-1. Great additional footage of Werder fans singing Wonderwall during the match
Lorenzen and Santi Garcia making their comeback first with the U23 team. They'll both feature in the test match versus Bielefeld today. While Guwara, Rehfeldt, and Hilssner join the pros in training.
Santi did well having scored in his return today. Looks like he should be ready to go soon with first team.
Not long to go now! 28 hours and 12 minutes. I'll be streaming online like the poor sod that I am, whilst riding it out right here. Hoping for an open attacking game, none of that clammy closed-down BS we put out at the start of this year.
Here's my prediction for the starting XI today versus Schalke: -----------------Ujah--------Johannsson------------- -----------------------Bartels----------------------------- --------------Junuzovic------Fritz--------------------- ----------------------Bargfrede--------------------------- Sternberg--Vestergard---Galvez----Gebre Selassie ----------------------Wiedwald-------------------------- The new Ujah and Johannsson striker partnership will be exciting to see. Ideally I'd rather see Oztunali as the starter instead of Fritz but for the season opener, Skrippo will most likely go with the veteran for now. Later on in the season, we'll gradually see a transition shift towards favoring the youngster. Also notable is that Grillitsch, Maxi Eggestein, and Ulisses Garcia all remain with the pros and have been called up for this game.
Good chance at the 6th min mark. Bargfrede finds Ulisses emerging up the flank with a great long ball who then beats EMCM with another cross, but Oztunali couldn't quite connect in the middle.
Liking what I see from Ulisses so far. Active advancing forward contributing to multiple attacking chances. Luki as well has been solid. Made that clutch clearance just in front of goal.
Fine save by Wiedwald to deny Goretzka's header. Followed later by a huge tackle by Vertergaard to stop Franco di Judas in his tracks.
Fritz may be getting up there in age, but I must say he's been surprisingly steady today. And made that great effort with his long range shot going just wide of the top left corner.
This could be Draxler's full comeback season in the BL, looked dangerous there on that forward drive and through ball. However fortunately, Wiedwald makes another big save to stop Huntelaar.
AJ making his debut, alright let's go!! Close one, Bartels squeezes past Schalke's defense but his shot sails just wide.
I should stop taking the piss out of Matip Just woke up on the floor with all the lights on in the room and my scarf over my head about 10 mins ago... just in time to see EMCMs goal LOL! Wiedwald just taking a casual excursion into the other half of the ground
What the heck happened to Marco Hoger?? Is he doing everything possible to look just like Christian Fuchs.
It probably is Fuchs... leicester are in for a shock if they ever do DNA test, 'who the hell is Höger'?
Mmh, it could be one of the seasons where you play a very good pre-season, but mess up the real matches completely. The cup performance was already weak and we adavnced with some luck; Well, and yesterday Schalke punished Werder for positioning mistakes. Skripnik has to find answers and the players must f*** start to concentrate. Some players were yesterday not ready for the Bundesliga.
Except for the unusual own goal, I found that the first half started rather well. At least in terms of defensive play. Luki and Verstergaard had Judas di Santo in their pocket, and kept him completely off from being any threat. However, offensively is where we looked lackadaisical. Too many times where we had chances in and around the final third but were unable to get off a decent shot. Bartels was ineffective and invisible. Ujah appeared to have drifted away from the forward position too often. Even Juno should have done better with getting several of his shots on target. Oztunali began with some encouraging displays but faded later on. Despite our defenders clearly not having a chance to stop Leroy, the third goal could have been avoidable altogether. Grillitsch's shot attempt was just poor, and AJ tried to be a little too fancy on that bicycle kick that missed completely which eventually lead to counter. With that said, I'd like to see Skrippo change things up for the next match considerably.
Bartels will be out for Friday vs Hertha. An opportunity for AJ to step up in the starting lineup. I'd like to see how he does playing from the beginning and links up with Ujah.
I missed the Friday game due to work, but a 1-1 draw against Hertha is what I expected. Happy to see Ujah get his first of the season. Hope that gives him the confidence to get into scoring form. Also Ulisses continues to be settling in nicely with the first team. He has my vote for starting LB as we move forward.